Termite shield



Oct. 17, 1939. A. A. TENNISON 2,176,598

TERMITE SHIELD Filed FeiS. 11. 1939- V Patented Oct. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE Alfred A. Tennison and James D. Tennison,

- Texarkana, Ark.

Application February 11', 1939, Serial No. 255,954

3 Claims. (Cl. 72-05) This invention relates to improvements in devices for controlling vermin and pertains particularly to an improved means for preventing the entrance of termites into buildings.

It is the practice of termites to build mud protective tubes along the walls of stone, cement or other types of foundations, through which the termite works to reach the wood-work of the building. In the present invention, the primary object is to provide a novel shield means to be mounted upon such foundation, about which the termite cannot build this mud protective tube and, therefore, it will be prevented from working between the ground and the wood-work of the building, thus protecting the wood-work which is upon the top of the foundation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metal shield for the above described purpose,

which is so designed that it may be joined in a novel manner with the building foundation wall and project therefrom so as to operate as an effective barrier against the passage of the insect from the ground to the building structure above.

A further object of the invention is to provide a barrier shield for the purpose described, which is attached to the foundation wall in a novel manner so that a sealing compound or suitable chemicals may be placed between it and an adjacent portion of the wall which will serve the two-fold function of preventing the passage of insects between the shield and the wall and also kill any insects which might crawl over the top of the shield.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, withv the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material deparature from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a view in cross-section through one form of the barrier embodying the present invention, the same'being shown applied, this section being taken substantially on the line l-l of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a view in top plan of portions of two joined sections of the barrier showing the joint therebetween.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the numeral I designates a portion of a wall which may be of concrete, cement, or cinder blocks or like material. The numeral 2 generally designates a. form of the shield embodying the present invention, this shield being made of suitable metal which will resist corrosion and it may be made in any suitable number of sections or lengths whereby it can be conveniently placed in position against the foundation wall to encircle the foundation, the adjacent ends of the lengths or sections being connected by a suitable type of joint such as is indicated generally by the numeral 3 in Fig. 2. The shield 2 may be formed to have a horizontal central portion 4 and an outwardly and downwardly inclined border portion 5 and at the inner edge of the portion 4, the material ofthe shield is bent longitudinally to form the upwardly and forwardly inclined wall section 6, which terminates in the reversely bent edge flange 1 which forms an acute angle with the wall portion 6 and is arranged so that the edge 8 thereof will lie in substantially the same plane as the corner 9 which is formed between the Wall 6 and central portion 4. The guard 2 is secured to the wall I by a bolt, spike or other suitable fastening means such as is indicated at H) and, of course, extends horizontally along the wall with the edges 8 and 9 in contact therewith. By employing the driven in securing element l0, sufficient pressure is imposed against the wall part 6 of the shield to cause the edges 8 and 9 to bear firmly against the wall and thus prevent the shield from springing outwardly therefrom so as to form an opening through which a termite may pass. In addition, by forming the edge flange I in the manner shown, there is provided a channel or pocket II in which a suitable sealing material or suitable chemicals which will operate as an insecticide, may be placed, such sealing materials or chemicals not being shown.

At the ends where the sections of the shield join, each may be provided with a double fold as indicated at l2 and H1 in Fig. 3, the fold [2 being mashed flat against the body of the metal plate while the fold I3 which is reverse to the fold i2, is spaced from the latter so as to form an edge channel which will receive the fiat fold i2 of the adjacent sheet. With this arrangement, it will be readily apparent that a tight insectproof joint is established between the sheets or sections of the shield.

What is claimed is:

1. A termite shield for a building wall, comprising a sheet of material adapted to extend longitudinally along one face of said wall, a portion of said sheet being turned to extend upwardly and forwardly away from said wall, a portion of said upwardly turned portion of the sheet being reversely bent to form a flange extending downwardly toward the adjacent wall, said flange having its edge contacting the wall and the sheet contacting the wall along the line on which the first-mentioned portion is bent, and a securing element extending through the said first-mentioned portion of the sheet into the wall to secure the sheet thereto.

a securing element extending through the said first-mentioned portion of the sheet into the wall to secure the sheet thereto, said reversely bent flange portion forming with the adjacent wall a channel in which a sealing or insecticide material may be placed.

3. A termite shield for a building wall, comprising a plate body having two spaced portions adapted to extend longitudinally of the -wall and designed to extend outwardly from the wall, each of said portions having an edge for contact with the wall surface and a portion intermediate to and connecting the first portions, said intermediate portion being spaced from the wall when the said edges of the first portion are against the wall, the said intermediate portion being adapted to have a securing element passed therethrough into the wall and having a resilient action in connection with the securing element to draw said edges into firm contact with the wall.

ALFRED A. TENNISON. J. D. TENNISON. 

